Can a starter be taken over by local mircoorganisms?
I had this ridiculous idea of starting a culture during my trip to San Francisco, but soon scrapped that idea after realizing *how* ridiculous that idea actually was. Anyhow, that got me thinking: If I could actually bring a San Francisco sourdough starter (dried) back to my home in Toronto, would the original SF bacteria and yeast be maintained in the starter?
I've taken microbiology courses, so I understand that the existing population of microbes will generally restrict the growth of any foreign microbes. However, if I maintain this starter over a long period of time, and it is exposed each time I use it, wouldn't the population of microbes eventually change?
Maybe I'm just looking into this too much. I haven't had a chance to really experiment with sourdough starters, so does anyone else have any input on this?